Civilian toll in Iraq tops 25,000

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About 25,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the two years
since the invasion, and four times as many died at the hands of
US-led forces than were killed by suicide bombers or insurgents, a
study has found.

The survey of the human cost of the conflict calculates the toll
of dead and injured since March 2003, and also shows that the rate
of criminal violence has risen dramatically.

Iraq Body Count and the Oxford Research Group, the two
independent researchers behind the study, say the figures in the
report should be regarded as the "baseline of the minimum number of
deaths".

It concluded that at least 24,865 civilians were killed up to
March 19 this year - 37 per cent died at the hands of American or
coalition forces.

The second largest cause of death (36 per cent) was criminal
violence, while anti-occupation forces have been responsible for
2353 deaths.

Every death was verified by at least two sources before being
included in the research, which was based on figures from Iraqi
mortuaries, the Iraqi ministry of health, and media reports.

It also points to the criminal murder rate soaring 20-fold.
"There has been a massive breakdown in law and order, and almost
total impunity for criminals," said John Sloboda, of the Oxford
Research Group.

The report does not cover deaths of Iraqi forces in combat, but
includes deaths among policemen and recruits queuing to join the
security forces.

The British Government said on Wednesday there was no reliable
or accurate account of the number of deaths in Iraq and that people
were now being killed primarily because of the insurgency.

The violence continued in Iraq yesterday, prompting several
Sunni Arab members of the team drafting Iraq's new constitution to
suspend their membership following the assassination earlier in the
day of two of their colleagues.

■ Three British soldiers will be tried before a war crimes
court martial charged with the inhuman treatment of prisoners in
Iraq, the British Government said. One of them is also charged with
the manslaughter of an Iraqi civilian in 2003.